JS Bach: Brandenburg Concertos

JS Bach: Brandenburg Concertos

Article excerpt

JS Bach

Brandenburg Concertos, BWV1046-1051

Capella Savaria / Zsolt Kallo

Hungaroton (F) (2) HCD32786/7 (87' * DDD)

There is not much Bach in the Capella Savaria discography but this Brandenburg Concertos set follows on from a violin concertos disc issued only last year (4/15), and shows remarkable consistency with it in its various strengths and weaknesses. The most oddly idiosyncratic of them is a tendency for first-movement tempi to sound a little rushed and unsettled, while finales (into which category, as a type, we can put the third movement of No 1) tend to hit the road with just the right mix of pace and control, No 3 being the only exception. Their best overall performance is a buoyant, grainy and gutsy No 6, while other highlights include a well-judged balance in No 1 between the 'outdoor' and 'indoor' personae of the horns, some brightly confident trumpet-playing by Laszlo Borsody in No 2, and in No 3 some pleasingly varied bass-line articulation in the downward passage at 3'2 3" in the first movement and a tidy solution to the two-chord second-movement problem. …